Author Archives: Dr. Dawn M. E. Bowdish

(Position filled Sept 14 2010) Post-doctoral position in Immunosenescence Available

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Would you like to build your career exploring the immunology of aging?

In the Western world the majority (>90%) of deaths due to pneumonia occur in the elderly. Why they are at such high risk is not entirely clear, but presumably immunosenescence (age related changes in the immune system) is a key factor.  The high mortality rate is compounded by co-infections, such as influenza infection. This research project involves developing a mouse model of Streptococcus pneumoniae colonization and infection in aged mouse and determining how co-infection with influenza increases the risk of developing pneumonia. This will include a both a basic science component (i.e. deteremining how age-associated changes in immunity contribute to susceptibility to infection) and a translational component (i.e. testing therapeutic interventions).

An immediate post-doctoral opportunity is available for a creative scientist with a strong commitment to excellence and innovation to pursue leading edge research in immunology. Although this is presently only a 1 year position, this may be extended if the applicant obtains fellowship funding. Candidates with experience in virology or mouse models of infection are especially encouraged to apply.

The position is in the Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine at McMaster University located in the heart of the Golden Horseshoe in southern Ontario.  McMaster University has been ranked as one of Canada’s most research intensive universities known for it’s highly collaborative and mentoring atmosphere.

Interested candidates should send a CV, cover letter and three references to Dr. Dawn Bowdish (bowdish@mcmaster.ca, www.bowdish.ca).

NSERC announces new PDF fellowship award.

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For all you potential PDFs, here’s the news from NSERC…

“Applications open soon for prestigious new PDF program

Budget 2010 announced that the three granting agencies would establish a new and prestigious postdoctoral fellowships program to attract top-level talent to Canada. The program is designed to be internationally competitive, with 70 new two-year fellowships, valued at $70,000 each per year, to be awarded on an annual basis. The first fellowships will be awarded in 2010–11.

As the program details are finalized over the coming months, NSERC, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council will communicate updates regularly to the university and researcher communities. Updates will also be posted to the agencies’ Web sites as they become available.”

Applications open soon for prestigious new PDF program
Budget 2010 announced that the three granting agencies would establish a new and prestigious postdoctoral fellowships program to attract top-level talent to Canada. The program is designed to be internationally competitive, with 70 new two-year fellowships, valued at $70,000 each per year, to be awarded on an annual basis. The first fellowships will be awarded in 2010–11.
As the program details are finalized over the coming months, NSERC, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council will communicate updates regularly to the university and researcher communities. Updates will also be posted to the agencies’ Web sites as they become avail

The Bowdish lab welcomes Iris Wang & Alicja Puchta

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The Bowdish lab is thrilled to welcome two new members, Iris Wang (technician) and Alicja Puchta (PhD student). Iris brings with her years of experience at McMaster and elsewhere and is quickly whipping the lab into shape. Alicja has just finished a very productive MSc with Dr. William Sheffield at McMaster and will be tackling the big issue of how our immune system declines with age. Welcome Iris & Alicja!

Post-doctoral Position Available in Immunosenescence (position filled April 30,2010)

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Have you ever wondered how we age?

Would you like to build your career exploring the immunology of aging?

An immediate post-doctoral opportunity is available for a creative scientist with a strong commitment to excellence and innovation in science to pursue leading edge research in human immunology. The position is in the Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine at McMaster University located in the heart of the Golden Horseshoe in southern Ontario.  McMaster University has been ranked as one of Canada’s most research intensive universities known for it’s highly collaborative and mentoring atmosphere.

The research area focuses on understanding the immune changes associated with aging, with a particular emphasis on the role of immunosenescence on the ability of human monocytes and macrophages to respond to Streptococcus pneumoniae. In conjunction to these studies methodological work on identified biomarkers will be carried out and tested using samples from clinical outcome studies.

This position also provides the opportunity to engage in Canada’s largest cohort study on aging. The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) (www.clsa-elcv.ca) is a national longitudinal study of adult development and aging that will follow 50,000 Canadians between the ages of 45 and 85 years at baseline over a 20-year period. Data will be collected every 3 years through interviews and 30,000 participants will also have a clinical assessment and collection of biological samples creating a national biobank and research platform.

Two enthusiastic researchers, Drs. Cynthia Balion and Dawn Bowdish, will supervise this position. In addition, the post-doctoral fellow will work with experts spanning the research continuum from discovery, to epidemiology, and translational science.

Interested candidates should send a CV, cover letter and three references to Dr. Dawn Bowdish (bowdish@mcmaster.ca, www.bowdish.ca).

We’re back online (2010-02-26).

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A calamity at the company who does our web hosting took us offline for a week, but it was gratifying to hear from so many people “Hey, did you know that your webpage is down?”.  We now know that the website is being looked at! As a teaser for our followers: it’s been a week of many lab developments, which will be posted after this next grant deadline (March1st).

The Bowdish lab recieves CFI funding

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The Bowdish lab has received CFI (Canada Foundation for Innovation) funding for infrastructure for her project “Drug development in a post-antibiotic world”. This infrastructure grant ($350,000) will allow her to build a new tissue culture suite, purchase new molecular biology equipment, upgrade the facilities at the high throughput screening lab and Biophotonics unit, all of which will be required to accommodate her expanding lab and to allow her to discover novel “immunomodulators”, that is drugs that enhance the immune response and fight infectious disease.
See the article on McMaster’s Daily News here and in the Hamilton Spectator here.

Congratulations to Alex, Harikesh & Zhongyuan for their poster award!

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The Bowdish lab undergraduates, Zhongyuan, Harikesh & Alex, co-presented their poster entitled “Your Mama’s so phat, even a macrophage couldn’t engulf her” at the IIDR Opening Symposium and won best undergraduate poster. Don’t let the title fool you, this was a very serious piece of work on their characterization of MARCO expression & function. Below is the excerpt from the IIDR website.
11-28-2009 poster winners